A Slayer in New Mexico
by Alcharma
Summary: What if Buffy never moved to Sunnydale after getting kicked out of Hemery for burning down the school gym? What if her mom got a job in Albuquerque, New Mexico and enrolled Buffy at East High School instead? A BuffyHigh School Musical crossover. ONESHOT.


This silly little oneshot crack-fic spawned from a plot bunny that was born when I was watching _High School Musical_ with my friend and his little sister the other day. It just wouldn't get out of my head or let me continue any of my other fics until this was written! Yeah, so, I thought it was weird that they would randomly burst out in song and choreographed dance moves (Yes, I know it's a musical, but still!), and it reminded me of "Once More With Feeling," so I thought hey, why not?

Disclaimer: Unfortunately, I own neither HSM or Buffy the Vampire Slayer. HSM belongs to Kenny Ortega and Peter Barsocchini and BtVS belongs to Joss Whedon. Transcript of "Welcome to the Hellmouth" from twiztv, and I went through the HSM movie and typed up the dialog, so that's all me. Lyrics from With the use of artistic license, Sharpay's going to be stealing some of Cordelia's lines, and I'm mixing up some of the dialog to fit my story. The baddie was inspired by a Supernatural/High School Musical crossover called "Breaking Free" by Miss Begonia (At least I think it was this one... I haven't read it in a while, and now I can't access that site...). Lyrics from lyricsmania.

Changes I've made: Changed the ending of HSM, but I don't want to give it away, so I won't tell you what I did. Instead of attending Sunnydale High in Sunnydale, California, she will be attending East High in Albuquerque, New Mexico, which I have made the Hellmouth. Giles will still be her Watcher, but she won't meet Wilow, Xander, or Angel. She will be starting as a Junior instead of a Sophomore so that she's the same age as the HSM kids! I will be smooshing down the time line and moving things around a bit, as I'm too lazy to come up with two weeks' worth of stuff that Buffy can do. Oh, yeah, last thing. It's set in 2006 so that it can correspond with HSM.

Hope you enjoy!

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"Buffy?" The sixteen-year-old opened her eyes to the sight of her new bedroom. The room was filled with boxes and the only things that were unpacked were a queen sized bed, a few items of clothes that were hung up in the closet, and a small lamp that was perched on the nightstand in front of the window next to the bed. "Buffy?" her mom shouted again, and she snapped out of her daze.

"I'm up, Mom!" she called, sitting up in bed and taking a deep breath before pushing off her comforter and swinging her legs off the bed.

"Don't want to be late for your first day!" she heard her mom call, and she made a face.

"No, wouldn't want that," she said sarcastically, obviously not excited about transferring to a new school both as a Junior and in the middle of the year. Changing into a white long sleeved shirt, a long black skirt, and knee-high black boots and making sure that her hair and makeup were decent, she descended the stairs and entered the kitchen to find her mother already sitting at the table. After a quick breakfast, she and her mom piled into the car and headed to Buffy's new school. After a fifteen minute drive, they pulled up in front of a large, brown building with red banners and a sign saying "East High School." There was a mass amount of teenagers covering the front walk way and lawn and a few yellow school buses were pulled up along the curb.

"Okay!" said Joyce, parking the car and turning toward her daughter. Buffy took a deep breath before exiting the car, swinging her bag over her shoulder and closing the door. "Have a good time. I know you're gonna make friends right away, just think positive." Joyce gave her a thumbs up, and Buffy gave her mother a quick nod through the car door before turning to go. "And honey?" Buffy looked back to see what her mom had to say. "Try not to get kicked out?"

"I promise," Buffy said, giving her a small smile. Joyce gave her one last wave before driving off, leaving Buffy staring at all of the kids littering the front of the school. Taking one last deep breath, she squared her shoulders and walked up to the school. Noticing that most of the kids seemed to be singing the school's song, she quirked an eyebrow, wondering what she had gotten herself into. Vampires were one thing, but teenagers filled to the brim with school spirit? Now that was something different all together.

Stopping off in the front office to pick up her schedule, she started wandering the halls, looking for her homeroom, finally finding it and stepping through the door. Faltering slightly at all of the eyes that turned toward her, she mentally gave herself a smack, forcing herself through the door, ignoring the whispering that erupted, knowing it was about her. Handing a slip of paper with her information on it to the teacher, she picked a seat in the very back, wanting to settle in before class started. Looking around the room, she inwardly groaned. It seemed to have an Indian theme, various brightly-colored hangings and paintings adorned the walls, and there was an elaborately decorated throne seated on what appeared to be a stage. The plaque on the desk read 'Ms. Darbus." Buffy slouched back in her seat, observing, and smiled softly when a girl with long, wavy, brown hair waved at her. Once the last couple of students entered the room, the teacher clapped her hands together and cleared her throat.

"I trust you all had splendid holidays," she said, getting out of the gaudily decorated throne, holding a large stack of papers. "Check the sign up sheets in the lobby for new activities, Mr. Bolton." A boy with blue hair and shaggy light brown hair who was sitting on top of his desk talking to his friend quickly hopped of his desk and sat down in his chair. "Especially our Winter _musicale_." Buffy quirked an eyebrow at her pronunciation of the word, and her elaborate gestures. "We will have singles audition for our supporting roles and pairs audition for our two leads. This morning during free period will be your chance for the musical auditions. Both singles and pairs. I will be in the theater until noon for those of you bold enough to extend the wingspan of your creative spirit." there was a pause as she continued to walk around the room. "Mr. Danforth, this is a place not learning, not a hockey arena." The boy that 'Mr. Bolton' was talking to looked up, pulling his basketball closer to him. "There is also a final sign up for next week's scholastic decathlon competition." She walked over to a pretty black girl who raised her hand excitedly. "Chem club's Taylor McKessie can answer your questions about that." Suddenly a cellphone rang and several people, dug theirs out of their backpacks or pockets, checking if it was theirs that had been ringing.

"Ah, the cellphone menace has returned to our crucible of learning." When Buffy looked up, the teacher had a metal bucket in her hand. "Sharpay and Ryan, cell phones, and I will see you in detention." A blond girl dressed head to toe in pink and a boy in white with a matching hat dropped their phones into the bucket with surprised looks on their faces. Ms. Darbus caught her eye and walked in between her and the girl who had waved at her earlier. "We have zero tolerance for cell phones in class so we will get to know each other in detention. Cell phone." The girl both dropped her phone into the bucket. "And welcome to East High Ms. Montez and Ms. Summers. Mr. Bolton, I see your phone is involved, so we will see you in detention as well. She walked over to the boy with the shaggy brown hair, and he dropped his in as well.

"No, no, no, that's not a possibility, Mrs. Darbus, your honor," said Mr. Bolton's friend, a handsome black boy with wild, curly hair. "See, we have basketball practice and Troy-..."

"Ah. That will be fifteen minutes for you too, Mr. Danforth," replied Ms. Darbus, effectively cutting him off. He didn't look too pleased with her decision. "Count them."

"That must be difficult for Chad since he probably can't count that high," whispered the girl Buffy remembered as being called Taylor, creating giggles from a few of the people next to her.

"Taylor McKessie, fifteen minutes!" Shouted Ms. Darbus; Taylor looked scandalized, like she wasn't used to getting in trouble. "Shall the carnage continue? The holidays are over people, way over. Now any more comments? Questions? Jason." Buffy turned toward a boy in the very back row, a few seats over from her.

"So how were your holidays, Mrs Darbus?" he asked, clearly the teacher's pet, and all the students groaned, not wanting to hear her ramble on any more. Thankfully, it was at that moment that the bell dismissing them from homeroom rung, and there was a scrambling as the kids hurried out of the room. Buffy joined them, wanting to find her next class, but was immediately stopped by the blond girl in pink.

"Hi!" she said, offering Buffy her hand. "I'm Sharpay."

"Buffy," said the Slayer with a smile, shaking the other girl's hand quickly before releasing it.

"So you're from L.A., right?" asked Sharpay, turning and leading Buffy down the hall. "News travels fast at this school," she added at Buffy's confused look.

"Um, yeah. I am."

"Oh," the girl exclaimed. "I would _kill_ to live in L.A. That close to that many shoes?" Buffy laughed but inwardly groaned. She knew this kind of girl. The kind of girl that only cared about clothes, hair, and boys. Hell, a year ago, she _was_ that girl. But then she became the Slayer, and she was forced to become someone different. She still had a little bit of that girl in her, but it was rapidly fading. "You know, I'm an actress!"

"Oh really?" asked Buffy, only half interested, watching as Sharpay did that ditzy, popular girl thing where she flicked her hair over her shoulder with her hand.

"Yeah, my brother and I-..." But Buffy never found out what her and her brother did, as Sharpay stopped and glared at something before marching toward the shaggy haired kid — Troy — and the other new girl who were standing and talking in the middle of the hallway.

"That's impossible," Buffy heard Troy, and in a second, Sharpay was standing right next to him with a huge smile plastered on her face. Buffy made her way up to them and saw that they were standing in front of the sign up sheet for the Winter musical.

"What's impossible, Troy," she said, batting her eyelashes at him. "I wouldn't think impossible's even in your vocabulary." She made a big show of noticing the girl that Troy was talking to, and Buffy inwardly rolled her eyes. "Oh! So nice of you to show our new classmate around." She turned toward the sign up sheet and put her name down, purposely taking up almost all of the allotted space. Taking advantage of that fact that she was busy, Buffy introduced herself to the two people standing in front of her.

"Hi, I'm Buffy," she said, sending them a smile.

"Troy," the shaggy-haired boy introduced himself, returning her smile.

"Gabriella," responded the other girl, giving Buffy a smile and a small wave that she easily returned. Sharpay didn't seem to have noticed their interaction and continued as if nothing had happened.

"Oh!" she said, looking surprised, and Buffy once again inwardly rolled her eyes at how fake it was. "Were you going to sign up too? My brother and I have starred in all of the school's productions. And we really welcome new comers. There are a lot of supporting roles in the show. I'm sure we can find something for you." She had put on a supportive face, but Buffy knew better than to believe her.

"No, no, no," said Gabriella, trying to back peddle her way out of this conversation. "I was just looking at all the bulletin boards. Lots going on at this school. Wow." She paused, looking over at the sign up sheet and raised an eyebrow. "Nice penman ship." She shot both Buffy and Troy a smile before exiting, leaving Buffy, Sharpay, and Troy staring at each other. It looked like Troy was about to leave too, but Sharpay was too quick.

"So, Troy," said Sharpay, quickly turning the scowl she had aimed at Gabriella into an enthusiastic, interested look. "I missed you during vacation."

"Ugh, gag me," muttered Buffy. She saw Troy smirk slightly, but Sharpay didn't seem to have noticed.

"What'd you do?"

"You know," answered Troy, glancing in the direction that Gabriella had gone, clearly trying to find a way out. "Uh. Played basketball. Snowboarding. More basketball." At his pause and before either of them could say anything else, Buffy piped up.

"Hey guys, I hate to leave this riveting conversation, but I gotta get going. Don't want to be late for my first class."

"Oh, ok!" responded Sharpay, bringing up her hand and wiggling her fingers in what appeared to be an obscure wave. "Toodles!"

"Toodles," Buffy copied, quite a bit less enthusiastically. Troy shot her a 'don't leave me!' look, but she sent him an apologetic grimace, knowing that she would probably get lost on her way to class. Giving him one last smile, she headed off down the hallway, finding her Chemistry classroom after a few minutes. After suffering through Chemistry, History, and Algebra, Buffy could not be happier for a free period. Finally finding the library with the help of quite a few students in order to pick up a few text books, she pushed the doors open, wrinkling her nose at the lack of light and the smell of dusty old books that assaulted her nostrils.

"Hello?" she called out, stepping further into the deserted library. "Is anybody here?" Walking over to the checkout counter, she notices that there is a newspaper on it featuring a picture that has been circled and a caption reading "Local Boys Still Missing." Suddenly, something came up behind her and tapped her shoulder, and she spun around, clearly startled. "Oh!"

"Can I help you?" a man dressed in tweed and wearing a pair of large, wire-rimmed glasses asked.

"Well, I was looking for some, well, books," she said, feeling like she was stating the obvious. "I'm new."

"Miss Summers?" he asked, peering at her curiously through his glasses.

"Good call!" she said, mildly impressed. "Guess I'm the only new kid, huh? Other than Gabriella..."

"I'm Mr. Giles," he interrupted, moving around to the other side of the counter. "The librarian. I was told you were coming."

"Great!" she said, smiling, glad that something was finally going her way. "So, um, I'm gonna need 'Perspectives on the 20th Century'..."

"I know what you're after!" he said, interrupting again, and ducked beneath the counter, only to emerge with a big grin on his face and an old book with the word 'VAMPYR' written in gold leaf on the front cover.

"That's not what I'm looking for," said Buffy softly, looking at the book uneasily.

"Are you sure?" Giles asked.

"I'm _way_ sure," Buffy said, emphasizing the 'way.'

"My mistake," said Giles confusedly, bending down to replace the book behind the counter. Buffy took this opportunity to leave, bolting toward the door before he could reemerge. Wanting to get away from the librarian as soon as possible, Buffy hurried down the hall, running straight into Gabriella, dropping her bag in the process.

"Oh! I'm sorry!" Buffy exclaimed, before bending down to pick up her fallen items and stuff them back into her bag.

"That's okay," Gabriella said with a smile, already crouching to help her. They manage to get all of her books and school supplies into the bag before Gabriella comes upon one of Buffy's stakes, picking it up and giving her a curious look.

"It's um... for self-defense," Buffy lied, not wanting anyone to know that she was the Slayer. "Everyone has them in L.A. Pepper spray is just so passé." Gabriella didn't seem convinced, but let it go, instead turning toward the girl she had been walking with before Buffy crashed into her. Buffy took this opportunity to stash her stake in her bag.

"Buffy, this is Taylor," she said as way of an introduction, gesturing to the pretty black girl that was in Buffy's homeroom class.

"Hi," she greeted, giving Buffy a wave. "Nice to meet you."

"You too," said Buffy, smiling at her.

"We were just about to head to the cafeteria for some lunch," said Gabriella, fixing her big brown eyes on Buffy's hazel ones. She felt a weird feeling surge through her, but ignored it, as Gabriella had continued. "Care to join us?"

"Yeah, sure, that'd be great!" said Buffy, grateful that she didn't have to sit with Sharpay. She had had enough of that girl to last her a lifetime. The three got their food before entering the cafeteria, looking around for an empty table. As they entered the room, everyone stood still, staring at them.

"Why is everybody staring at you?" Gabriella whispered to Taylor, but she merely shook her head.

"Not me, you."

"Because of the callbacks?" Gabriella asked, and Buffy looked at her quizzically, clearly not knowing what she was talking about. "I can't have people staring at me. I really can't." Suddenly, the whole room, minus Buffy, Gabriella, and Taylor burst into song, jumping up and performing a series of complicated, seeming choreographed, dance moves.

"Noooooooooooooo, no, no, no.  
Stick to the stuff you know.  
If you want to be cool,  
Follow one simple rule  
Don't mess with the flow, oh no.  
Stick to the status quooooooooooooo."

Alarmed, Buffy jumped, nearly dropping her lunch, and though Gabriella and Taylor seemed uncomfortable with all the enthusiastic singing and synchronized dancing, they didn't say or do anything; the simply kept looking for a place to sit.

"Uh..." Buffy started, glancing around at all the flailing arms and legs, but got no response, so she simply followed the other two girls, thinking that after of the creatures she had come into contact with, this just might have been the weirdest thing she had ever seen. The singing and dancing continued, and still people didn't seem to think that it was odd.

"No, no, no.  
Stick to the stuff you know.  
It is better by far,  
To keep things as they are,  
Don't mess with the flow, no no.  
Stick to the status.  
Stick to the status.  
Stick to the status quo."

All of a sudden, the singing and dancing stop, and Gabriella, clearly distracted, slips on a puddle of water, causing her nachos to fly off of her lunch try and hit Sharpay smack in the chest. There was a moment of stunned silence before the blond let loose a loud, shrieking scream that Buffy was sure could be heard all the way to the moon.

"Oh! I am so sorry!" said Gabriella, clearly feeling guilty, trying to scoop some of the nachos off of the girl's chest. Sharpay stopped screaming and glared daggers at her, Buffy grabbing Gabriella's hand and pulling her from the spot, not willing to loose a potential friend to a pissed off drama diva.

"Time to go!" Buffy called over he shoulder while dragging Gabriella out of the cafeteria, Taylor following close behind. The three sprinted out of the building and around the back of the school, sitting down on a planter to catch her breath. Gabriella and Taylor were panting for breath, sweating slightly, but the run didn't affect Buffy at all. "So, what the hell was that about?"

"What?" asked Gabriella, confused. Buffy gave her a 'duh' face.

"All the singing and dancing," Buffy explained patiently, looking between Gabriella and Taylor.

"I don't know," said Gabriella, looking genuinely curious.

"Me neither," agreed Taylor.

"So, that was the first time?" asked Buffy, wanting to know what the hell was going on. "That's never happened before?"

"Well, I did notice that people were singing and dancing when I arrived this morning," said Gabriella, thinking back, "but I thought that was just school spirit."

"Hmm..." thought Buffy, biting on her lower lip in concentration. This was getting her nowhere. "So, what were they all riled up about?"

"Gabriella and Troy have been called back for the Winter musical," said Taylor, and Buffy just continued to look at her. "No one's beat Sharpay out for a musical since kindergarten."

"Ah..." replied Buffy, turning toward Gabriella.

"I wasn't trying to beat anyone out," she insisted. "We didn't even audition. We were just singing."

"You won't convince Sharpay of that," responded Taylor, sighing. "I'm telling ya, if that girl could figure out a way to play both Romeo and Juliet, her own brother would be out of a job."

"I told you, it just happened." Gabriella got a dreamy look on her face. "But I liked it. A lot." Buffy smiled, happy that her new friend was happy. "Did you ever feel like there was a whole other person inside you just looking for a way to come out?"

"No. Not really," said Taylor at the same time Buffy answered, "Ugh, yes." The three looked at each other, and Buffy got up, sensing that the other two were waiting for her to explain. "Uh... well, I gotta go guys, want to get some text books of my very own."They nodded. "See you guys later?" They nodded again and smiled at her. "Great, see you!" Buffy left and made her way to the library, banging open the doors and looking around for Mr. Giles.

"Okay, what's the sitch?" she asked, spotting him in the stacks on the upper level.

"Sorry?" he asked, coming out to meet her, clearly confused. She dropped her bag on the study table in the middle of the room and headed up the stairs.

"It's the weirdest thing," she said sarcastically, coming to stand in front of him. "People are singing. And not the 'humming a song from the radio that got stuck in your head' kind of singing. Like a whole cafeteria of people bursting out into song. And choreographed dance moves." There was a pause as he continued to stare at her. "Isn't that bizarre? Aren't you just going 'oooo'?"

"I was afraid of this," Giles sighed, taking off his glasses to pinch the bridge of his nose.

"Well, _I_ wasn't!" she exclaimed, glaring at him. "It's my first day! I was afraid that I was gonna be behind in all my classes, that I wouldn't make any friends, that I would have last month's hair. I didn't think there'd be demons and weird, supernatural occurrences on campus." Pause. "And I don't care." 

"Then why are you here?" he asked, looking at her pointedly.

"To tell you that..." she stuttered, caught of guard. "I don't care, which... I don't, and... have  
now told you, so... bye." She turned away from him, heading down the stairs, but stopped when she heard him speak again.

"You really have no idea what's going on, do you?" She turned around to see him leaning over the railing, staring at her. "You think it's coincidence, your being here? This is just the beginning."

"Oh, why can't you people just leave me alone?" Buffy asked, a slight whine tinging her voice.

"Because you are the Slayer," he answered, descending the stairs. "Into each generation a Slayer is born, one girl in all the world, a Chosen One, one born..."

"...with the strength and skill," Buffy interrupted, reciting the saying that she had heard time and time again, "to hunt the vampires and the demons, to stop the spread of their evil blah, blah, blah... I've heard it, okay?"

"I really don't understand this attitude," said Giles, giving her a look. "You... you've accepted  
your duty, you, you've slain vampires and demons before..."

"Yeah, and I've both been there and done that, and I'm moving on."

"What do you know about this town?"Giles turned away from her and entered his office, Buffy following him and leaning against the door frame.

"It's two hours on the freeway from Neiman Marcus?" He ignored her.

"Dig a bit in the history of this place. You'll find a, a steady stream of fairly odd occurrences. Now, I believe this whole area is a center of mystical energy," he exited the office clutching four books, and Buffy followed, watching warily as he set them on the large table in the main room, "that things gravitate towards it that, that, that you might not find elsewhere."

"Like magical, demon things that make kids sing?" Buffy quipped, but again he ignored her, placing the volumes into her arms one by one as he listed off various monsters and demons.

"Like vampires, zombies, werewolves, incubi, succubi, everything you've ever dreaded was under your bed, but told yourself couldn't be by the light of day. They're all real!" he finished with a flourish.

"What? You, like, sent away for the Time-Life series?" she asked, raising an eyebrow at the heavy books that were now nestled in her arms.

"Ah... well... yes," he stuttered.

"Did you get the free phone?"

"Um, the calendar."

"Cool! But, okay," — she gave him back the books, getting tired of holding them — "first of all, I'm a Vampire Slayer. And secondly, I'm retired." Pause. "Hey, I know!" she said, mock-excitedly. "Why don't you kill 'em?"

"I-I'm a Watcher, I-I haven't the skill..." he stuttered, looking at her and set the books down on the table. "A, a Slayer slays, a Watcher..."

"...watches?" Buffy supplied helpfully, smirking at him.

"Yes. No!" he said, trying to back peddle. "He, he trains her, he, he, he prepares her..."

"Prepares me for what?" Buffy retorted, starting to get angry. "For getting kicked out of school? For losing all of my friends? For having to spend all of my time fighting for my life and never getting to tell anyone because I might endanger them? Go ahead! Prepare me." They just looked at each other for a moment before Buffy turned and leaves the library in disgust.

"It's getting worse!" she heard Giles call desperately, and she turned to see him rushing toward her.

"What's getting worse?" He guided her over to the wall and leaned forward so that he could whisper to her her without anyone hearing.

"The influx of the... supernatural occurrences, it's been building for years. There's a reason why you're here and a reason why it's now!"

"Because now is the time my mom moved here," she asked sarcastically, moving to evade him, but he put out an arm to stop her.

"Something's coming, something, something... something is, is gonna happen here. Soon!"

"Gee, can you vague that up for me?" sarcasm still tinging her voice.

"The signs, as far as I can tell, point to a crucial mystical upheaval, very soon. Days. Possibly less." Buffy sighed.

"Fine. Since you seem so..." Pause. "I'll help you avert the appending doom."

Finally reaching an understanding, the two spent the next couple of weeks researching, well Giles researched using his books and Buffy asked around, the musical demon. Meanwhile Buffy had gotten quite comfortable at East High, and hadn't had to deal with anything too extreme on the Slayer front, having dusted only a few fledgling vampires since she had gotten there. She had made some good friends, especially Gabriella and Taylor, and although she still had a strange feeling about Gabriella, she shrugged it off, attributing it to the mass amounts of energy coming from the Hellmouth. There had been quite a few random bursts of song and dance since the first one in the cafeteria, but Buffy seemed unaffected. Probably because she was the Slayer. She was thankful for that.

"Hey, Gabi," Buffy called out the next Monday, making her way to her friend who was standing quietly by her locker. The girl turned to her, and she could see she was clearly upset. "Are you okay?" Pause. Buffy mentally slapped herself. Of course she wasn't okay. "Sorry that was stupid. What's wrong?"

"I'm not going to do the callbacks," she answered, sighing and slamming her locker closed, moving to walk away.

"Hey!" Buffy said, grabbing her arm lightly and turning her so that she was facing her. "What? Why not? You and Troy have been practicing for days! You were so excited about it!"

"Troy said somethings," she paused, trying to gather her thoughts. "He said that I meant nothing and neither did our callbacks. He said that he was just doing them because he was bored."

"That jerk!" Buffy exclaimed. She didn't know Troy all that well, but she had always thought that he seemed nice. "I'm going to go beat his ass!"

"No it's okay," Gabriella sighed, looking down at the floor. Buffy pulled her into a comforting hug. "He has his team, and I have mine. Now we can both do what we're good at." At that, she turned and walked away, leaving a stunned Buffy behind her. Buffy was overwhelmed with the urge to hunt down Troy Bolton and make him pay for hurting her friend, but she shrugged it off, deciding to go see Giles instead.

"Hey, Giles," Buffy greeted as she entered the library, dropping her bag and a couple of books on the ground before hopping up onto the checkout counter. Giles looked up from the book that he had his nose buried in and smiled at his Slayer.

"Ah, Buffy, excellent. I have found some information on our musical demon," he emerged from his office, dropping a few books onto the counter next to her.

"Giles, contain yourself," Buffy said sarcastically, smiling playfully at her Watcher. "Yes, I'm back, but you know how it embarrasses me when you gush, so let's just skip all that and get straight to work."

"Oh, I, um," Giles stuttered, clearly embarrassed. "Of course it's wonderful to have you back, it goes without saying. But you enjoy making me say it, don't you?" Buffy grinned, and he gave her a withering glare. "Now may we move onto more important matters?" She nodded. "I believe I have found the demon we have been looking for." He paused, taking a minute to rifle through one of the books he had brought from his office. "Ah here it is. Jacla, the Demon of Music, feeds on the souls of teenage boys." Buffy grimaced, not liking that imagery. "She takes the shape of a young woman and uses her beautiful voice to seduce him."

"Huh," said Buffy, thinking.

"She can only steal his soul when he has fallen completely in love with her." There was a pause as he skimmed the rest of the passage.

"So... and this demon thingie can make other people sing too?" She asked, putting the pieces together. "All together... and perform choreographed dance moves?"

"I believe so," Giles said, still reading from the book. "Ah. Jacla needs only to feed once a year."

"So... One dead kid a year, huh?" Pause. "I need a computer." Jumping over the counter, she settled herself in the chair, making herself comfortable and booting up the computer. A couple minutes later, she groaned. "Figures, my first real friend at this school would turn out to be the freaky musical demon." Giles looked at her confusedly. "You know Gabriella? That other new girl?" Giles nodded. "Well, she's that musical demon thingie."

"Are you sure?" he asked, moving so that he could look over her shoulder at the computer screen.

"Way sure," she said, making a face. "I talked to some of the kids, and they told me the singing and dancing stuff started the day that they got back from Winter break. The same day that Gabriella and I transferred her. It's clearly not be because, hey, Slayer, so it's gotta be her." Giles gave her a look, clearly not convinced. "There's more. She's been at a new school each year, every time in a different city. And each year, a guy at her school was found dead. All shriveled up. Like he had gotten the life sucked out of him." She frowned at this image. "AND she sings. Well."

"Hm... It seems like she is the demon that we've been looking for." Buffy gave him a 'well, DUH' look, but didn't say anything. "However, we cannot be sure until she shows her true form. We must wait until she transforms, or else we could destroy a perfectly innocent girl."

"Speaking of destroy," Buffy piped up, hopping back over the counter. "How do I kill this thing?"

"She uh..." Giles turned back to the book he had been reading from. "She can only be killed when she is in the process of feeding. Trying to harm her at any other time will only succeed in making her angry."

"Right, feeding time, check." Pause. "So, I can kill her however I want?" Giles nodded. "Alrighty then, cool. Well, I'm out. Gotta go do that whole class thing." And with that she left the library, waving quickly at her Watcher before exiting through the doors. She kept an eye on Gabriella for the rest of the week, rarely letting her out of her sight. Somehow, Gabriella and Troy had made up and were planning on doing the callbacks after all. Buffy suspected that Taylor and Troy's friend Chad had something to do with it.

"Hey guys, what's up?" Buffy asked, spotting Troy, Gabriella, Taylor, and Chad, standing in front of a bulletin board. They all looked at her. "What's wrong?"

"The audition's been moved to the same day as the game!" exclaimed Troy, clearly upset. Buffy shot him a shocked look.

"And the school decathlon!" said Gabriella, appearing equally distressed.

"Why would they do this?" asked Taylor.

"I smell a rat named Darbus..." Chad trailed off, having become quite supportive of Troy and his singing.

"Actually," they all turned to see Kelsi, the musical's composer, walk up to them. "It's two rats and neither of them named Darbus." There was a pause as they all stared at her, waiting for her to continue. "Ms. Darbus may think she's protecting the show, but Ryan and Sharpay are only concerned with protecting themselves."

"Do you know what I'm gonna do to those overgrown showdogs?" asked Chad, but they never found out, as Troy interrupted him before he could say.

"Nothing. We're not gonna do anything to them. Okay, this is only going to work if we work together... So who's in?" They all nodded and started to devise a plan. Taylor and Gabriella would shut down scoreboard in the gym in the middle of the basketball game and then create a foul-smelling chemical in the room that the decathlon was held, effectively disrupting both activities. They would then usher all of the people from the game and the decathlon into the theater so that Troy and Gabriella could perform.

On the day of the callbacks/basketball game/scholastic decathlon, Buffy and Giles split up, Buffy heading to the decathlon to keep an eye on Gabriella and Giles attending the basketball game, against his will, to make sure that Troy stayed safe. Currently, Buffy was sitting in a chair, nearly bored to tears by a bunch of kids talking about science. At exactly three thirty, Taylor looked in Buffy's direction, giving a small nod that Buffy copied. She watched as Taylor typed a few things into the laptop in front of her, giving her a thumbs up when she was finished. A few seconds later, the chemicals in a beaker in the front of the room started bubbling, creating a disgusting smell. People started screaming and running, and Buffy gave Gabriella a nod to tell her that it was time for her to meet Troy and make their way to the theater. Calmly, she exited the room, and headed toward the theater, slipping through the closed doors and noticing that it was already packed. Leaning up against the wall, she sat back to listen to Gabriella and Troy perform.

"We're soaring,  
Flying.  
There's not a star in heaven  
That we can't reach.  
If we're trying.  
Yeah, we're breaking free.  
Oh, we're breaking free.  
Ohhhh."

Buffy looked around the audience; everyone had stood up and were clapping and dancing along with the music. It wasn't that weird choreographed kind, though, just friends supporting Gabriella and Troy. Buffy smiled, but steeled herself for what she had to do. She knew that the Gabriella-monster would try and steal Troy's soul after this, and she had to be ready.

"More than hope.  
More than faith.  
This is true.  
This is fate.  
And together,  
We see it coming.  
More than you.  
More than me.  
Not a want, but a need.  
Both of us breaking free."

Troy and Gabriela had abandoned their shyness and had really gotten into the song, dancing and spinning around on the stage, seemingly having the time of their lives. Buffy smiled sadly, knowing that she would have to be the one to break the poor boy's heart. But better than him being dead, she supposed.

"You know the world can see us  
In a way that's different than who we... are."

They finished signing, so close to each other that their noses were touching, almost kissing, and the audience erupted in applause. They stepped to the front of the stage and took a bow, the audience still clapping wildly before leaving the stage and exiting out of the side door. Shooting a glance at Giles, who nodded in response, Buffy hurried toward the door, flinging it open and following after them. Skidding to a halt when she reached a new hallway, she looked around, not knowing where they had gone, before hearing a loud yell coming from the left. Turning the corner and seeing Troy on the ground with Gabriella hovering over him, she sprinted toward them, tackling Gabriella, throwing them both to the floor.

"Troy! Get back!" Buffy shouted, and she saw him scramble to his feet, flattening himself against the closest wall. Pushing herself to her feet, she glanced warily at Gabriella, who had transformed into her demon visage; her eyes were glowing a bright red and a long set of razor-sharp teeth had descended, sort of like vampire fangs, but about thirty of them, and she had long, sharp fingernails. She snarled, and leaped at Buffy, but she easily dodged it. She grabbed the demon's arm, slamming her into the locker before throwing her to the floor.

"Watch out!" she heard Troy yell, but turned too late, feeling Gabriella's fist connecting with her jaw, sending her crashing into a nearby water fountain. Recovering quickly, she pulled a knife from the waistband of her jeans, and lunged, only to be cut across the cheek by the demon's nails. Buffy aimed a high kick at her head, and it connected, sending her to the ground. Not wasting any time, Buffy climbed on top of her, straddling her so that she couldn't move, and plunged the knife straight into her heart. Getting up quickly, she watched at the Gabriella-demon screamed and shrieked, clutching at the knife still embedded in her chest before vanishing in a puff of black smoke, the knife clattering to the floor. Buffy turned toward Troy only to find him staring from her to where Gabriella's body had been, clearly in shock. Walking over and picking up the knife, she rinsed the blood off of it in the water fountain before slipping it back into her jeans. She turned back to see that Troy was still staring at her.

"What the hell was that?" he exclaimed, a bit squeakier than usual, once he found his voice.

"Demon," Buffy replied simply, gesturing toward where the demon had disappeared into thin air. "Seduced you with her singing. And made everyone sing and do all those choreographed dance moves." Troy looked at her like she was crazy. Or maybe he thought he was crazy. Or both.

"But how did you..."

"I kill them," she answered when he trailed off, seemingly at loss for words. "It's what I do." There was a pause as he continued to look at her. "Are you okay?" He shook his head. "Let's try that again. Are you hurt?" He shook his head. "Alrighty, good then."

"Demons exist?" he asked, still clearly unsure whether or not to believe her.

"Yep," she said, popping the 'p.' "I hate to tell you this, but yeah. They do."

"Oh..." he trailed off, looking into her eyes, trying to see if she was lying to him. "Okay." Buffy laughed, amused that he had chosen to believe her so quickly.

"Well, c'mon basketball boy," she said, placing a hand on his lower back and pushing slightly, propelling him forward toward the gym so that he could finish the game. "You okay to play?" He nodded. "You sure?" He nodded again and started moving on his own. The two walked for a few seconds in silence, before Troy stopped and turned to her, making her stop as well.

"Thanks... for... you know. Saving my life."

"Ah, don't worry about it," Buffy said, giving him a bright smile. "It's kinda my job." They stood staring at each other for another moment before Buffy started feeling slightly awkward. "Well, come on. Everyone's probably looking for you." The two continued walking toward the gym, both glad that they had found another friend to replace the one who had turned out to be a demon.

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That's it! Hope you liked it! A bit of a bad ending, but that's the best that I could come up with! Feedback much appreciated!


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